Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 254 The Greedy and Violent Space Beast

Within those dim and obscure vertical snake eyes, the colors of the entire universe are reflected.

The dark, silent universe, the magnificent nebulae, the countless stars… everything was reflected on the smooth, enormous surface of that pupil, as if the entire universe were contained within it. Before that vast, deep ocean, the tiny spaceship not far from the pupil was not even a speck of dust.

"Emergency procedures... Escape... Passengers, please prepare for emergency..."

No matter how surprised the middle-aged man was, the highly intelligent spaceship AI had already detected the danger, and the sub-light speed engine, which could reach up to half the speed of light, was starting up at top speed, trying to get away from this obviously dangerous space monster.

In the blink of an eye, the spaceship had already traveled millions of kilometers, but this distance was like an ant crawling in front of this colossal object, which was hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, let alone the solar system with a gravitational range of more than 2 light-years.

Although humanity has discovered a network of subspace routes that allows for de facto faster-than-light travel, attempts to travel through subspace are subject to numerous limitations.

The immense gravity exerted by a star is like a well in spacetime, dragging everything nearby into it. In the vicinity of such a massive gravitational well, it is impossible for this observation ship to break free from the constraints of outer space and escape through subspace.

However, the giant serpent seemed oblivious to them, instead slowly unfurling its body in space. Its enormous, long body stretched out, and its tail, tens of thousands of miles long, swayed gently, as if it were swimming through the vast expanse of space, flying towards the distant sun.

"It... doesn't seem to have noticed us."

The young man stared intently at the colossal object, his fear and tension making his mental state even more unstable, a state that was also present in his companions. Almost instantly, the excessive mental tremors among the crowd were detected by the spaceship's AI.

"Psionic protection procedure... Psionic tranquilizer release..."

Inside the spaceship, a fragrant mist was released, soothing the unease of psionic energy.

This is one of the negative effects of being a psionicist.

A heightened sensitivity to the mind makes psychics easily influenced by the emotions of others. Therefore, the issue of psychic powers spiraling out of control has been a subject of study for almost the entire human world for the past millennium.

The psionic tranquilizer, which works through skin contact, was indeed very effective. The young man, whose mind was unstable from staring at the giant snake, quickly calmed down, and his fear subsided. At this moment, he began to pay attention to something else.

Upon seeing the giant snake, everyone's emotions were highly unstable, but the most uneasy among them was the middle-aged man.

When he saw the giant serpent emerging from the planet, his emotions were not just fear, but also a sense of disbelief and astonishment, and his reaction was exceptionally strong. It was as if something he thought was impossible had actually happened.

Why are you so surprised? Do you know something?

The young man pressed on with more questions.

With the help of the nebulizer, the middle-aged man calmed down a bit, and then his expression became somewhat complicated.

"I...I'm very interested in the history of the pre-galactic era, so I've looked into a lot of things related to it, including some very obscure ancient relics. On a stone tablet on Hope Star, someone claiming to be a descendant of some ancient organization wrote some very bizarre stories."

He said that his ancestor was a member of a mysterious organization that existed since ancient Earth times. This ancient organization existed as early as 3500 years before the Galactic Calendar, when humans were still using iron tools and had not yet developed firearms. This organization kept a secret for generations and was known to those in the know as the Secret Order. The Secret Order was destroyed at one point but was rebuilt, until it gradually disappeared in the interstellar age. His ancestor simply passed on what he knew to his descendants as a story.

"Many of the things described on the stone tablet are bizarre, but one thing impressed me the most. The tablet says that humanity's original planet was actually a giant, coiled serpent. The serpent slept, its dust became the earth, its accumulated water became the sea, and its mist formed the sky, from which life arose… The Hermitage firmly believes this and has kept this secret for generations. And the ruler of that overlord is none other than the leader of the Hermitage. The reason he bombed his own important territories was also to destroy this giant serpent…"

The mental fluctuations paused slightly, and the middle-aged man stared at the giant snake that was swimming in space, his face showing disbelief.

"I don't remember the other strange and bizarre stories on the stone tablet, but this story is the only one that I remember very well because it was unexpectedly connected to the mystery of the destruction of the earth that I was interested in."

"When I saw this giant snake, I was instantly reminded of this story... Could a fictional story become reality?"

The middle-aged man shook his head, as if he still couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Whether it's a fictional story or not, the giant snake has now awakened, and we should think of a way to escape."

The young man offered words of comfort, while simultaneously glancing at the spaceship's AI.

"How much longer until we reach the warp jump boundary?!"

At the bow of the spaceship, the built-in AI was flashing. According to regulations passed down after the AI-induced chaos war, the AI ​​must constantly display its status to prevent logical errors. In front of the young man, the flashing light proved that the spaceship's AI was operating efficiently.

"3672 seconds."

The AI ​​replied.

At this moment, the entire spaceship's AI system was activated, closely monitoring the traces of the space monster. However, the half-light speed engine on the spaceship was not designed for war, but for interstellar travel. While some military spaceships might be able to force a subspace jump to escape even within a gravity well, this spaceship could not. It could only perform a subspace jump in an area with minimal gravitational influence and a smooth and stable spacetime structure.

Even traveling at top speed, escaping danger is still a very difficult task for this spaceship.

"An entire galactic time..."

The young man gritted his teeth.

Now, it seems they can only wait and see if fate is on their side.

"Look! What is that big snake doing?"

Suddenly, a mental fluctuation was felt from one of his companions. The young man looked up and saw a scene that would horrify everyone...

On that colossal star with a diameter of 140 million kilometers, numerous prominences, each hundreds of thousands of kilometers long, were erupting abnormally, and solar material carrying immense heat was violently forming. Meanwhile, a gigantic monster, hundreds of thousands of kilometers long, lay prostrate on the star's surface, its jaws wide open, devouring the energy originating from the star.

Its enormous size is still clearly visible on the star, even though it is hundreds of millions of kilometers away.

The enormous monster swam around the star, as if swimming on it. Every now and then it would open its mouth wide, greedily devouring the solar prominences that were violently erupting and were almost as large as planets, and gnawing at the matter on the star.

"Incredible... How can a biological structure withstand the heat of a star?" Among his companions, someone was unconsciously shaking their head, clearly feeling the enormous impact.

With the advent of the interstellar age, humanity's understanding of the physical world has become extremely profound. At the sun's temperature, no known substance can remain unmelted, not even the star itself.

A star is a nuclear fusion reactor that is constantly undergoing thermonuclear reactions. There is no solid substance inside; instead, there are countless highly dense atoms, and an excessively dense and thick mass of heat, force, and particles. This density is so great that even a photon can hardly pass through it. If a photon were to attempt to travel from the center of this nuclear fusion reactor, breaking through millions of kilometers of dense particles to reach the outside of the sun, it would take 100,000 years.

No matter can sustain itself on a star.

Even if interstellar humans were to enter the interior of a star, they would not rely on simple matter as a shield, but rather on force fields, on intangible and insubstantial "force," using invisible force fields to resist the pressure and temperature inside the star.

It is utterly impossible to rely on tangible matter to withstand such temperatures, let alone biological structures.

However, the scene before their eyes shattered the understanding of interstellar humans. Relying on those seemingly primitive scales, the enormous serpent was actually swimming above the star.

"No, it didn't withstand the star's temperature. Look closely."

The young man, however, decisively denied this and instead reminded his companion.

In the young man's view, he could clearly see the enormous serpent's scales melting rapidly under the star's intense heat, but the problem was that the serpent's scales were also regenerating at a rapid pace, so it seemed as if nothing was happening... No, it wasn't just the scales regenerating! Its body was also being reshaped!
The information from the prosthetic eye showed that the already unbelievably huge snake was still expanding rapidly!

80 kilometers...

90 kilometers...

100 kilometers...

200 kilometers...

300 kilometers...

……

The old scales melted under the star's temperature, but the new scales grew larger and denser, constantly increasing their resistance to the star's heat. Eventually, when the serpent's body could coil around the entire star, the scales were completely unharmed in the scorching plasma. No matter how much the star baked and impacted them, it only made the dark scales shine even brighter.

"Oh no! This star is about to explode!"

Suddenly, someone exclaimed in surprise.

Among the data from everyone's prosthetic eyes, they could clearly see the fluctuations in heat. Just now, the intensity and heat of the star were rapidly increasing, clearly indicating a high degree of instability.

With so much matter plundered, the star's surface could no longer sustain itself. As the external pressure weakened, the immense internal pressure was about to be released.

It is foreseeable that soon, this star, which is undergoing intense thermonuclear reactions inside, will be unable to sustain itself, and then all the matter will completely explode, just like a dying red giant, no, even more dangerous than that red giant.

Red giants experience a decrease in internal pressure followed by outward expansion, an expansion that can last for tens of thousands of years; but right now, the star is exploding from the inside out.

It's fair to say that at this moment, the sun has become a bomb, about to explode.

How powerful would this explosion be? No one wanted to calculate it anymore; the ship simply couldn't escape.

"Ruined……"

A wave of despair washed over me.

However, the giant serpent coiled around the star began to move.

The enormous body, now millions of miles long, coiled around the star, its tight body forcibly binding it, even dimming the brightness of the entire galaxy, because the serpentine body was so tightly coiled that no light could escape from it.

Since the external pressure has decreased, we just need to forcibly restrain it again.

"What is it doing?"

The young man was bewildered.

He couldn't understand what this enormous monster was doing. If it loosened its grip even slightly, the entire star would explode instantly, with no other possibility. Did it intend to entangle this star forever?
"It...it's eating."

This time, the middle-aged man spoke up.

His extreme surprise even caused him to speak instead of communicating through mental fluctuations.

His eyes were filled with shock.

The middle-aged man was very curious about the history of the pre-galactic era and knew a lot about the creatures of that time. In ancient Earth, snakes liked to constrict their prey by strangling them before swallowing them whole.

But right now, what's being bound by this giant serpent is a massive star with a diameter of 140 million kilometers!
Above that blazing star, a colossal serpent coiled around the massive celestial body, as if binding its prey and preventing it from escaping, its head raised, its vertical pupils gazing down at the star beneath it.

The abyss opened its gaping maw, and the star that shone with billions of rays of light, illuminating everything within light-years, was suddenly bitten. The star's dying brilliance surged beyond what anyone could see, as if it were facing a neutron star's ray burst.

Under the watchful eyes of all the interstellar humans on the spaceship, in the vast universe, the colossal serpent, whose length was immeasurable, raised its head, and the sun appeared in its mouth.

The star unleashed its final, intense brilliance within the enormous serpent's mouth, seemingly on the verge of exploding. But the light gradually shifted downwards and vanished without a trace, leaving no sound. Thus, the star was completely swallowed whole.

(End of this chapter)